“One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.”
– George W. Bush

“I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.”
– George W. Bush

“The future will be better tomorrow.”
– George W. Bush

“We’re going to have the best educated American people in the world.”
– George W. Bush

“I stand by all the misstatements that I’ve made.”
– George W. Bush

“We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.”
– George W. Bush

“Public speaking is very easy.”
– George W. Bush

“A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.”
– George W. Bush

“We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.”
– George W. Bush

“For NASA, space is still a high priority.”
– George W. Bush

“Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.”
– George W. Bush

“It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.”
– George W. Bush

“It’s time for the human race to enter the solar system.”
– George W. Bush

Origins: The ramp-up towards the November 2004 Presidential election has been especially dirty, with partisans of each side throwing as much mud as they can at the other party’s candidate in an effort to sway more votes towards their own guy. It was therefore to be expected that this list of stunningly stupid statements would be trotted out anew as folks looked for even more ways to undermine the credibility of the men vying for the top job.

As is apparent from the two examples listed above, the same list of bloopers is circulated about both the 2004 Democratic and Republican candidates for the presidency, in both cases offered as proof that each man is patently unfit to hold high office.

Yet these “proofs” are false, because all but one of the 2004 crop of groaners supposedly uttered by President George W. Bush or Senator John Kerry are statements either made by former Vice-President Dan Quayle or ones which have for years been attributed to him:

“Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.”

“We are going to have the best educated American people in the world.”

“We have a firm commitment to NATO. We are part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are part of Europe.”

“The future will be better tomorrow.”

“One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is ‘to be prepared.'”

“For NASA, space is still a high priority.”

“[It’s] time for the human race to enter the solar system.”

“We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.”

“I stand by all the misstatements that I’ve made.”

And some are “Quayleisms”; that is, comments now widely attributed to the former Vice-President that were actually coined by humor writers as examples of the sort of things he might say:

[MAD Magazine, 1991]

“If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.”

“A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.”

“It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.”

John Kerry’s involvement with the collection is new, but just prior to the 2000 presidential election these same quotes were circulated about both Vice-President Al Gore and then Governor of Texas George W. Bush. Although this list (and similar compilations) might have begun life as an assortment of Dan Quayle quotes, it has since become a way of slamming the candidates du jour, being rolled forward from election to election.

Only a lone entry in the 2004 Bush and Kerry lists was anything other than a Dan Quayle utterance or a Quayleism: “The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.” Though it is not a word-for-word match, it is close enough to a statement made by President George W. Bush in 2000 to be recognizable: “More and more of our imports come from overseas.” (Although not all imports necessarily come from “overseas,” when President Bush made this statement he was specifically referring to foreign oil imports, even though the two largest foreign suppliers of oil to the U.S. are the fellow North American countries of Canada and Mexico.)

Barbara “freight state” Mikkelson

Last updated: 22 September 2004

Sources:

Jaffee, Al. “Future Quayle Quotes We Can Expect to Hear.”

Mad. October 1991 (pp. 10-11).

Waldmeir, Pete. “Quayle’s 2000 Campaign Brings to Mind Some of His Classic Quotes.”